Customer referral program

There are many businesses that would argue their best source of clients is by referral and yet if you ask what they do about this ‘Best Source', most would also say nothing.
Do you reward people for referring customers to you and do you have an organised program to encourage this form of referral?

If you answered 'NO‘ to this question then I would ask you to take a moment to think about your answer for a moment and to perhaps discuss changing how you deal with this aspect of your business with your business partners and employees.

Firstly, you could make a decision to reward those people that refer clients to you by way of a financial reward either with a cheque or a voucher. Alternatively, you could reward them with your own products or services, by way of a discount on future purchases or by giving items away.

However, I recommend discounts, as this would encourage them to buy more product or service from your business, which is a ‘win-win' situation and best overall for your business.

Not only should you consider rewarding people when they introduce business to you, but you should also consider actively encouraging it so that people know beforehand that they will be rewarded for referring business your way.

The Internet has thousands of businesses that have been built in this way and are called affiliate businesses and you could even use this if your business fits that style of expansion, but if it doesn't then at least think about doing this on a smaller scale and a start would be to put details of your ‘referral program' on your website.

I am an entrepreneur having started, bought and sold businesses since 1990. I have also advised hundreds of business on how to set up a business, how to grow a business and improve profits and how bext to structure a business. I now run, amoungst other things, a Business Blog and have just launched a Business Forum (We always welcome ne...